


Hell-Met by Moonlight

by danceswithgary



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Challenge Response, Drama, M/M, Minor Character Death, Suicidal Thoughts, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-29
Updated: 2011-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-25 01:31:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithgary/pseuds/danceswithgary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carson's retrovirus and Michael's pathogen prove a deadly combination years after everyone presumed they'd been eradicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hell-Met by Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> See notes at the end for warnings

  
[  
Click for fullsize](http://pics.livejournal.com/danceswithgary/pic/00363s3x)   


 

The changes had been glacially slow the second time in comparison to the first, and Rodney's counting on that continuing as he fights for their lives. Watching John leave had been agonizing, but Rodney had refused to consider the alternative. With Jennifer on Earth and Carson missing, Rodney's working their secret records, unable to trust the new administrator, parceling out tasks to an inexperienced staff. Tests confirm the blue tint glimpsed in Rodney's mirror no illusion, his judgment likely compromised.

In addition, John hadn't been celibate in the years before Rodney.

The tally of missing personnel is up to three.

~~~~~~~~~

Atlantis calls to him every time he nears a gate, a siren song pleading for his return, another torment in his self-imposed exile. It's an ordeal each time blue-scaled hands punch the symbols for anywhere else in the Pegasus galaxy, but he cannot remain long at any of the addresses programmed into his LSD. The temptation to remain as helpless prey versus careful hunter or to use his speed to race the vaporizing splash is always there. The animal instinct to survive and his human determination to keep his promise to Rodney prevent choosing a final option - for now.

~~~~~~~~~

Weird nightmares aside, Dr. Gregory Harrison thinks it's going to take some time before the excitement of waking up in a floating city fades, especially one located in another galaxy. Recalling the clear viscous liquid on his cheek and pillow isn't as pleasant. He doesn't need a more disgusting way to drool, especially since he hopes his next date with Lt. Maia Perkins will end with more than a kiss.

Scratching a sudden itch on the same cheek, he inserts the next batch into the sequencer, hoping Dr. McKay will be happier with the latest results on the alien pathogen.

~~~~~~~~~

Harrison and Perkins never wake, the first to sleep undiscovered for days. Their knowledge is invaluable to the biological invader when it comes to learning Atlantis' strengths and weaknesses.

The alien tentacles infiltrate with mocking ease, resistant to Carson's phage and bypassing quarantines. The changed walk free, recognized as part of the whole while the rest are absorbed as enemy. The inhuman are few, vulnerable to bullet and sword, and they are finally vanquished with losses Rodney grieves while he conceals his own change. With all hope lost of clearing the Ancient city of contagion, Earth regretfully sounds the retreat.

~~~~~~~~~

Dreaming about his last night on Atlantis, John wakes with a tortured shout, the bright heat of Rodney's blood a heavy memory in his mouth. Nausea rises, a familiar sensation since his dietary requirements changed. His mockery of 'Steve' lodges bitter in John's gorge, Wraith dentition no longer a mystery. An evolutionary throwback, John's new teeth are necessary since 'hand feeding' isn't part of the retrovirus package. John subsists on animals, moving to a new location whenever the hunger for more becomes agony to ignore.

Address after address he resists the call home - then terror bleeds through the plea.

~~~~~~~~~

Rodney battles the locked consoles in the control room, left behind by choice in the evacuated city with the blaring alarm of the self-destruct. Despite his understanding the fear of the unchanged, he'll never destroy his hive-city, his transformed Atlantis, and he grins in grim satisfaction when the countdown aborts.

Startling when the chevrons engage, fearful Rodney then understands and lowers the iris before walking down the stairs to greet the one he's been missing for so long. Standing on one of the few sections clear of the encroaching tentacles, he shivers in anticipation.

John walks though the blue.

Home.

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Dark themes, suicidal thoughts, implied character deaths (not McKay/Sheppard)
> 
> Written for [Spook Me 2011](http://spook-me.livejournal.com) inspired by my [SGA Scare Artwork](http://sgaartvalentine.livejournal.com/39469.html) and SGA episode 5.02 - The Seed.
> 
> The prompts I selected for SGA Scare:  
> antares04 wrote: John/Rodney and a full moon.  
> &  
> lenkti wrote: From ["The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes](http://www.potw.org/archive/potw85.html)
> 
> Then look for me by moonlight  
> Watch for me by moonlight  
> I'll come to thee by moonlight  
> Though Hell should bar the way
> 
> My Spook Me signup 'Vampire or Ghost' returned the following images to use for inspiration (or not):  
>   
> 


End file.
